I turned chuck holes (these indentations allow me to mount the blanks securely on the lathe) in the two blanks and proceeded to turn the first one. I was particularly concerned about some cracks in the wood so I designed the piece to minimize the effects from these splits.

The blue tape is holding in a knot that had popped out during the turning. Ultimately, I was not able to retain the pieces of the knot. The gap in the rim added some character to the piece.

Continuing on with the history of this wood, I have pretty well decided that the date is 1937. First growth cedar was still being cut in the 1930's so this is the most likely date. The fact that it is wood from western Canada also points to this later date as in the late 1800's Ontario had no need to import western wood.